I have read with interest the various letters on your website and in the local print media in support of Cherie Blair's recent application to appear on behalf of her client in the local courts.

Arguments have been made in favour of permitting foreign lawyers with specialist expertise such as her's to enhance the standards of the local bar and questions have been asked about the advisability of maintaining outdated restrictions on foreign lawyers in the current climate of globalisation and liberalisation of world trade in services.

The question I ask myself as a foreign chartered engineer working in Malaysia is, why the bar? So far as I am aware, there are also countless foreign professionals working in the engineering and construction sectors in this country, none of whom are permitted to register locally under current regulations.

Architects, engineers and quantity surveyors are all professionals subject to strict regulation by local statutes which preclude entry of foreign professionals into the local ranks. This surely is at odds with the globalisation drum being beaten by Malaysia in the interests of attracting inward investment into this country.

Restrictions placed on trade and services inevitably limit investments to this important sector of the economy. Furthermore, the same arguments being advanced by sympathisers of Blair equally apply to technical services as the presence of foreign professionals in this country can do much to enhance standards in the local industries.

I urge the relevant authorities to heed calls for further liberalisation of all professional services in Malaysia for fear that if they don't, the current restrictions will be seen as little more than outdated protectionism at a time when Malaysian professionals are themselves actively seeking to export their own services to new markets overseas.